LBI: Let's Go Fly a Kite

Late in the afternoon on our last day there, the weather was perfect for kite flying.




Where's the kite, Jack?


Jack took one last chance to frolic in the waves.

LBI: Beach Days

Toby & Steve treated the family to a week long vacation on Long Beach Island this summer. It was a great chance to spend a week relaxing on the beach and having some quality time with everyone, particularly the Monahans! While Matt took the opportunity to get in some golf, the rest of us spent most sunny hours (and some not so sunny hours) playing (and reading and napping) on the beach.

I loved watching Aileen and Jack run around and play in the water, dig holes and build witch castles.

One overcast day while the boys golfed, the girls (and Jack) hit the bay beach, where the water was calm and the kids could swim.



Later that afternoon, back at the ocean side, I got a good close up of Aileen.

Matt even enjoyed the fun.

Backyard Project

Our backyard was extremely ugly and rather unpleasant, despite our downstairs neighbors' valiant efforts in gardening the border. Most of the small space was covered with concrete which had been painted ever so long ago in red and green. This paint, which I assume is lead based, has been chipping so much that the color scheme was really red, green and gray. The added bonus to this patio was it sloped nicely towards the building so all rain water funneled directly into the foundation and under the door into the garage/storage/laundry space. Charming and functional.

So we decided we could fix this for a pretty small budget. Step one: remove concrete.


Step two: build deck

Step three, landscape the rest.

I have not yet taken any photos of the finished product with the landscaping. Our neighbors, Chris and Heather, did a great job with the flower beds. I'll get some "after" pics up soon!

Master Bathroom Project

In May we began a big project to add a second bathroom to the place. We had been wondering if such a thing would be possible and had ruled it out several times. Then we had a designer come in to suggest the best way to maximize the existing bathroom when we renovated it. He ended up convincing us that we could definitely add a bathroom where the master bedroom closet sat. He drew up some plans and we were sold. Let the demo begin:

To maintain a relatively clean living room and kitchen, the contractor's first order of business was to set up a plastic wall in the hallway - this also helped cordon off the (alien) cats.
Occasionally this aided in their efforts to keep away from Sunapee.The bedroom became a plastic walled storage area while we bunked on the pull out couch in the spare bedroom.

After about 3 weeks of demo, framing, extensive plumbing and electrical work, the tile started to go in.

And the shower pan, which of course the cats felt required inspection.

We found a great tile shop in the city where they really had some great suggestions, like this waterfall effect in the shower:
Toto! The Cadillac of toilets (ok, we went for a low cost model, but it has what we wanted and we are installing the same one in the other bathoom).

With shower door (duct tape was temporary)

The cats are huge fans of the heated tile floor. Marin spends half her day there.
Now it's finished, complete with a large skylight where the old roof hatch used to be in the closet. Having two bathrooms is great... except when we returned from our East Coast vacation, we demo-ed the other one. So, I imagine it will be nice to have two new bathrooms!

Aileen the Butterfly

In June, Matt and I flew to New Jersey to celebrate Toby's retirement from Shore Regional High School. While there, we spent the day with Aileen, who'd had her face painted at a nearby shopping center. As it rained all day Saturday (I understand this was common for the East Coast this summer?), we improvised. Some coloring on the front porch and cocktails and mac & cheese in the garage.

Relaxing the Rules

Matt captured this charming dog/cat moment the other day. Franklin was a little startled when Sunapee first joined him on his chair, but quickly settled back in to continue his nap.

Whose Food Is This Anyway?

Occasionally, we will pour Sunapee's food before he is sitting, waiting, drooling. This allows Franklin the opportunity to sample the dog food and it seems he likes it as much as his own.

All Dressed Up and Getting Bitten

I'm not crying, the sun was just really bright
and we left our sunglasses in the car at the hotel.

Matt and I spent a wonderful long weekend in Richmond Hill, GA (just outside Savannah) to celebrate our friends' wedding. Mark and Jenn threw a fabulous party at the Ford Plantation. We ate good food, drank wonderful wine (it helps when the groom is head of US sales for a winery), played amazing* golf and swatted numerous no-see-ums. I may have left with the feeling of having chicken pox, but chicken pox was never this much fun**.



*Amazing in the sense that the course was gorgeous and we played best ball and finished 4 under. I love best ball.
** I'm not sure if I have a chicken pox memory - my pediatrician's diagnosis wasn't solid. Instead he said "if Susan never has chicken pox again, then this was it. If she does, then it wasn't." Awesome. Matt, on the other hand, definitely knew he had chicken pox. And poison ivy. At the same time. While moving from Syracuse to Shrewsbury. And he has the [adorable] scars to prove it.

Cats and Sinks

For some odd reason, cats like to sit in sinks, curl up and nap in sinks, drink out of sinks. Here we have Marin enjoying this spot on a nice sunny day with Franklin next to her on the warm granite.

Vegas Baby!

Spent Easter weekend in Las Vegas with Toby & Steve. You always see interesting things in Vegas. Here is a nice contrast of a church of some sort in the background with a cab advertising a strip club in front. Ahh, Vegas.

This lovely sight is at the entrance to the Riviera Casino where we went Friday night to a Comedy Club. For some reason no one seems to rub these ladies' heads for luck.

Matt's Best Friend

Sunapee enjoyed watching Amazing Race with Matt last night.

Cliffside Hang Gliding

No, I did not go hang gliding, fun as that would be. But I did see hordes of them one blustery Saturday afternoon when at a dog park with Sunapee. I was heading back from Target and needed to tire out the puppy before he drove me truly nuts over the weekend while Matt was in Tahoe. It was a chilly and very windy day, especially on the coast. I stopped at Fort Funston, a part of the Golden Gate National Parks, which many describe as doggy heaven for its off leash policy, trails, beach access, you name it.

On my approach I noticed the hang gliders and I was wondering where they were coming from. Turns out, the park is heaven for them too, with the high cliff parking lot and windy nature of the coast.

Seeing this was just an added bonus to my errands!

Foods I Wish I Liked

Peppers – red in particular as these appear everywhere

Raw onions – these are a pain to pick out of salads

Eggplant

Mayonnaise - has always been tough to avoid

Whole wheat pasta

Pecans and walnuts - have been ruining good cookies and brownies for decades

Yogurt

Salmon

Yes, I am aware that this makes me a picky eater. Oh, well.

Snow Days in NH

Matt and I started our East Coast Holiday vacation in New Hampshire. We made it to Springfield late Monday (12/22) night, despite a delayed flight which led us to miss the last Dartmouth Coach bus and driving up from Boston in a rental car with a misaligned wheel which caused massive vibrations. After we dropped off the rental car at the Lebanon Municipal Airport, braving the Lebanon traffic, we finally were able to enjoy the snow.


We donned snowshoes for a trek around the woods. We started down the driveway, pausing to take a snapshot of the house in its snowy beauty, then crossed the street to explore beyond the pond.

No groomed paths here.
Red cheeked and cheery!
Just beyond my breath you can just make out the blue lines crisscrossing the maple trees.

After re-crossing the street, we spotted the first evidence of moose tracks, dragging their feet through the high snow.
Just a little ways past those first tracks, and maybe 50 yards from the street, we stumbled upon 4 separate moose beds in the snow.
Heading inside to warm up and have dinner. It was approximately 10 degrees this day.

The house had massive icicles.
Tuesday night, Betsy and Evan arrived. We borrowed 2 more pairs of snow shoes so all 6 of us could go out.
Walking the "Gator Trail"

Stopping for a rest. Trudging through the snow (~20") or so is tiring, particularly for the 1st & 2nd in line. It was about 30 degrees this day, so we all heated up rather quickly.


Dad, Betsy and I plodded on to this spot - the turn off for Royal Arch - which I understand is a cave. We were officially off Lawson land, on the Daniel Webster Pass.